Historically, the sheer number of devices launched by manufacturers has occasionally prevented them from keeping up with the latest version of Android. Ever since the launch of Android 4.4 KitKat, though, that trend has begun to shift.

As revealed in the Android distribution numbers released by Google in December 2014, KitKat’s domination of the Android market has been hard to miss. Just one month ago, Android 4.4 KitKat registered on more than 33 percent of all the Android devices out there (at least, the ones being registered at all by visiting the Google Play Store app). Now, though, KitKat continues to show its stubbornness in the market as has grown to 39.1 percent in distribution numbers.

The rest of the chart shows a commonality across the different versions of Android: a general decrease in distribution. Android 4.1.x through 4.3 saw a decline in distribution across the board, with Android 4.3 showing on 6.5 percent of devices in the latest report, compared to 7.0 percent of devices last month. Android Ice Cream Sandwich is now registering on 6.7 percent of devices, while in December it registered on 7.8 percent. Finally, Android Gingerbread is now showing up on 7.8 percent of devices, while in December it showed up on 9.1 percent.

As was the case in December, Android 5.0 Lollipop is not registering on the chart just yet, but that should change soon enough.

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MrNobody

I’ve never understood the newsworthy information in these reports. The currently being sold (or distributed as updates) version of any operating system by definition is the only one that can gain market share. Guess what, next month you’ll see higher Lollipop market share than existed this month, and less Gingerbread.

ZM

It helps developers aim apps if I remember correctly. The fact that old OS versions slowly go away and new ones gain share is a given, but the actually numbers tell them if they should support or continue supporting older versions and when they should think about using new version abilities in their app because it can actually reach a substantial audience.

For instance: Gingerbread is still clinging to a sizable chunk of the market. It’s old and outdated by far, but developers can see in this data that they might not want to abandon compatibility with it quite yet. Lollipop is also still nonexistent, so adding features that require lollipop might not be worth the effort yet. Numbers let Devs decide.

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